Opinion published by Toronto Star on January 6, 2022. Read full article here. Pregnant Indigenous women are being forced to travel hundreds of kilometres to give birth alone and away from their communities. Health Canada has a birth evacuation policy that requires them to take planes, buses, boats, helicopters, taxis, or even snow machines two to four weeks before…
KERRI A. FROC AND ELIZABETH A. SHEEHY CONTRIBUTED TO THE GLOBE AND MAIL PUBLISHED JANUARY 4, 2022 Read original Opinion article here. Three significant cases have arrived for consideration at the Supreme Court of Canada, each challenging Section 33.1 of the Criminal Code. That section, added by the federal government in 1995, addresses the “fault” element for crimes of violence. The…
Opinion article published by the Ottawa Citizen on December 3, 2021. Read the full article here. In this opinion article on mental health written by Yasmin Khaliq in her Feminist Law Reform class at the University of Ottawa taught by Professor Martha Jackman – she addresses the inadequate mental health services in Canada and the…
NAWL is delighted to announce our new National Steering Committee (NSC), elected at our September 2021 AGM. NAWL is excited to welcome these incredible women and the expertise on feminist law reform advocacy they each bring to the organization. New NSC appointments and directors include, Dr. Kerri Froc, Maureen McTeer and Amanda Therrien. They join…
Read the media release. We, the undersigned, call on all Parliamentarians to affirm the inherent dignity and human rights of all Canadians, including those from the 2SLGBTQI+community, to live free from discrimination, prejudice, and harm. We call on the 44th session of the Canadian Parliament to take immediate action to prohibit all forms of conversion…
PEI Legislative Assembly 165 Richmond St. Charlottetown, PEI C1A 1J1 Dear Members of the P.E.I. Legislative Assembly: Re: Letter of Support for Proposed Non-Disclosure Agreements Act The National Association of Women and the Law is proud to support MLA Lynne Lund’s proposed Non-Disclosure Agreements Act. We thank you for your consideration of this very important…
NAWL is delighted to announce the appointment of its new Executive Director, Tiffany Butler, who joined the organization in March. NAWL is excited about the new energy Tiffany brings to the organization, as well as her community-based law reform experience working to advance the substantive equality rights of women. I am honoured to be joining…
Honourable Senators, The National Association of Women and the Law is a not-for-profit feminist organization that promotes the equality rights of women, in all their diversity, through legal education, research and law reform advocacy. We are writing to voice our support for Bill C-6, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (conversion therapy), as it…
NAWL’s NSC chair Martha Jackman, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Ottawa, spoke with Toronto Star reporter Tonda MacCharles, on Maumud Jamal’s appointment to the Supreme Court of Canada. Jackman said, it’s clear Jamal is “highly qualified as a jurist, as a scholar” and his appointment “brings a level of diversity to the court that was…
The Honourable Carolyn Bennet, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations The Honourable Marc Miller, Minister of Indigenous Services Government of Canada Dear Ministers, On behalf of national, regional and local gender justice and human rights organizations, we are in solidarity with the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation and all First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Peoples and…
May 13, 2020 | Updated March 3, 2021 The Hon. Patty Hajdu, Minister of Health The Hon. Bill Blair, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness The Hon. David Lametti, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada Dear Ministers: We write with urgency in light of two unprecedented public health emergencies. As the…
Opinion article published by CBA National on May 3, 2021. Read full article here. “The carbon pricing ruling at the SCC is a partial victory for equality-seeking groups. But will it be interpreted in a manner that is equality affirming and aligned with climate justice?” The Supreme Court of Canada’s recent decision confirming the constitutionality of…
For immediate release Algonquin Territory/Ottawa, Ontario – March 25, 2021 – The Supreme Court of Canada’s judgment declaring the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act constitutional is a victory for women and girls. Saskatchewan, Ontario and Alberta went to court over the Act arguing that it was unconstitutional because Ottawa was stepping into provincial jurisdiction. The…
For Immediate Release A coalition of national feminist organizations welcomes the initiation of legal action by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association to fight the discriminatory and anti-choice regulation that prohibits the funding of abortion care outside of hospital settings in New Brunswick. In October 2020, Clinic 554, the only free-standing clinic providing surgical abortions in…
The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau Prime Minister The Honourable Chrystia Freeland Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance House of Commons Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6 Re: Action Plan on Women in the Economy Taskforce Dear Prime Minister Trudeau and Minister Freeland, The economic downturn caused by this pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on women.…
Op-ed published by iPolitics on October 15, 2020. Read full op-ed here Written by Anne Levesque, co-chair of the National Association of Women and the Law and Beatrice Olivastri, CEO of Friends of the Earth Canada. ‘In the recent global fires, floods and droughts, it’s women who have borne the brunt of climate catastrophe.’ It…
NAWL endorsed the brief by Luke’s Place presented to the Ontario legislature’s Justice Committee, on October 13, 2020, on BILL 207: An Act to amend the Children’s Law Reform Act, the Courts of Justice Act, the Family Law Act and other Acts respecting various family law matter. The link to the brief and list of endorsements on…
Dear Premier, We are writing to you to express our outrage as leaders of feminist movements throughout Canada on the death of Joyce Echaquan, an Atikamekw woman who was the mother of seven children and a cherished family and community member. We stand in solidarity with the Indigenous women’s group Femmes Autochtones du Québec /…
For Immediate Release A coalition of feminist organizations is calling for the federal government and the government of New Brunswick to take immediate action in light of the imminent closure of Clinic 554 in Fredericton. The Fredericton clinic, the only free-standing clinic providing surgical abortions in the province, is set to close by the end…
The Honourable Chrystia Freeland Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance House of Commons Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6 Re: Roundtable with women’s rights and equality-seeking organizations for Federal Budget 2021 Dear Minister Freeland, In this unprecedented moment in history, federal budget priorities need to be rethought to shape what Canada will look like after COVID-19.…
